Bit of Alright, Wild Rumpus and GameCamp

London has a bunch of treats lined up for you this weekend and next. Treats moulded in the shape of Bit of Alright, Wild Rumpus and GameCamp.

This Friday, May 10th will see Bit of Alright, the games and play non-conference, return to London. From 12 till 5 you can listen to talks, play games, and be part of experimental art pieces. The line up is a great ensemble of local game developers, event organisers, artists, musicians and all the rest. Tickets are currently £32 and available from Eventbrite.

Saturday 11th brings the lively and unquestionable Wild Rumpus to our doorstep. Taking place on the same boat as Bit of Alright (yes lets get out on that river people!) and running from 7 to 11.30, a grand old line up of games, drinks and DJ’s will help you party the night through. Featuring Chipzel (of Super Hexagon soundtrack fame) on the beats, and a selection of games including Samurai Gunn (I absolutely love this game), Nidhogg and the UK debut of Tenya Wanya Teens, from Katamari Damacy developer Keita Takahashi. Tickets are a juicy £10, but get yours in advance to avoid disappointment.

Lastly GameGamp 6 is on the following weekend, Saturday May 18th. This was one of my favourite games events, the past couple years it’s been on. It’s run at London’s South Bank University and is an Unconference. This means there is no set agenda of talks but anyone can turn up and put their name on a board to talk about something they’re interested in. Inevitably it’s a bit of a mixed bag, but there are always some really interesting discussions going on, and because of the format, no one is afraid to speak up and interrupt a dull speaker, or to walk out on a particularly bad one. Tickets are a snappy £10, from Eventbrite.

Games Question Time

Hot off the heels of Ben Affleck’s recent success, BAFTA are organising a indie games focused question and answer session.

There are a bunch of names you might have heard, all of whom are nominated for this years games BAFTAs, which are held the day after. Mike Bithell, creator of moody box-sim Thomas Was Alone, Jessica Curry who worked on insane-o-regretathon Dear Esther, Barry Meade, from The Room creators Fireproof Games and Dan Connors, CEO of the estimable Telltale Games.

It’s at the Princess Anne Theatre on 4th March, 7pm. Tickets are £5 an I believe include a free drink.

Unfortunately scheduled the same night as our monthly pub meet at the Crown, but this may well be more educational than that. Make your choices and stick with them, ladies and gents!

Ouya: Devs vs Fans

With everyone being excited about the Ouya a meet and greet has been organised for Thursday 24 January at the Skills Matter eXchange. It’s for people to talk about the Ouya and and touch some of the devkits that were recently sent out. Potential Ouya devs come along and find out more, devs who already have Ouyas can come and show off their games in progress, or just talk to other developers. The public (yes them) are also invited to prod at things and kick the tires on the whole scene.

There will be a Q&A session from Ouya team member Al Sutton. He will answer all your questions, plus some you didn’t even think of, and I heard he also has some great shellfish recipes he wants to share if there aren’t enough questions. All this and more!

I will be in attendance, possibly with a game-in-progress. I’m sure there will be plenty of other London Indie types turning up too. So go register now (you also need to register at the Sklls Matter website), and come along.

Wild Rumpus #3

It’s that time again! Wild Rumpus Time! Yeah!

Our favourite indie games club night returns to London after its visits to LA and Nottingham. This one is bigger and better than ever before, hosted at Cargo, just off Kingsland Road, and costing a mere £5 for a beautiful ticket. It’s this Thursday too, the 27th September.

The line up this time brings some old favourites together with some new delights:

• Megagirp – Girp on steroids, 4 dance mats stuck together with magic glue courtesy of Douglas Wilson and Bennet Foddy.
• Swordfight – Have you ever wanted to strap an Atari joystick to your crotch and (actually I don’t know what you do in this game). From Kurt Bleg and Ramsay Nesser (and Gareth Biggs for the Atari strapons).
• Uprok – Five players, one foot pedal each. A kind of minimalist multiplayer Tiny Wings. Made by yours truly, Joe Bain.
• Barabariball – A retro futuristic Super Smash Bros. meets volleyball from Noah Sasso.
• Komendium – A collection of obtuse and delightful 2-player mini-games from Michael Brough.
• Super Hexagon Tournament – Normal amazing insane addictive reaction rape Super Hexagon by Terry Cavanagh but with a winner takes all tournament stickered on.
• Cumulo Nimblers – Bounce on clouds and collect coins. Apparently. Sounds ace. By Farbs and John Martz.
• Recurse – A webcammy sound-reacty something-thing. It looks tres interesting. By Matt Parker, Colin Snyder and Ithai Benjamin.

So yeah, loads and loads. You should go, I’ll be there, that other guy, the cool one, he’ll be there, so will everyone else. Go get a ticket.

AdventureX: Adventure Game Event

Do you sleep with Sam and Max dolls next to your bed? Do you have all the Discworld games, still in their original, oversized PC box packaging? Are you madly in love with Dan or Ben and their funny, angular walks (accurate to real life, I can confirm)?

If so then AdventureX 2012 is for you! AdventureX is a kind of festival / conference event for adventure game fans and makers, both professional and independent. There will be hands on adventure games previews, presentations on up and coming adventure games, a quiz (with prizes!), an audience driven choose-your-own-adventure, and an after-party.

Guest speakers already confirmed are Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games and creator of the Blackwell series and Stephen Marely, writer and designer on Playstation and PC survival horror Martian Gothic.

The event runs for two days, over Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th December. It is being held near Liverpool Street Stn., on Middlesex Street under the kind awnings of the University of East Anglia, and entry will be free.

How does such a grand and unparalleled games super-event manage to charge nothing on the doors though? The organisers, Mark Lovegrove and Alasdair Beckett-King, have set up an Indie-Go-Go fundraiser to secure £1665 ($2200) to cover all the costs of the event. It’s a lovely, socialistic endeavour, which means anyone can just turn up on the day, and they don’t have to worry about selling enough tickets on the door. It does need your help to get it going though.